BOULDER -- Even if Boulder County commissioners don't follow Longmont voters' lead in banning fracking, the county should at least extend its current year-long moratorium on accepting new applications for oil and gas drilling -- set to expire Feb. 4 -- several speakers urged during a Tuesday night public hearing.

Commissioners Cindy Domenico, Will Toor and Deb Gardner are reviewing proposed revisions to county land-use regulations about oil and gas exploration outside the boundaries of Boulder County's cities and towns. After nearly a four-hour long Tuesday night meeting -- including nearly 21/2 hours of public testimony -- the commissioners decided to postpone further consideration of those proposed rules until Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, many of the more than 30 people who marched to the county Courthouse's hearing-room microphone on Tuesday noted last week's decision by a majority of Longmont voters to impose a ban on hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting a mixture of sand, water and chemicals to free up underground oil and gas deposits, within Longmont's city limits.

Boulder County should provide legal support to Longmont, some of Tuesday night's speakers suggested.

Rod Brueske speaks to the Boulder County commissioners during a public hearing about oil and gas development at the Boulder County Courthouse on Tuesday.
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Greg Lindstrom
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The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission sued the city earlier this year, after the Longmont City Council adopted an ordinance setting additional local restrictions on oil and gas drilling. The voter-approved fracking ban adopted in last week's municipal election is expected to be challenged in court, as well.

Before Tuesday's hearing, more than 60 people gathered on the courthouse plaza on downtown Boulder's Pearl Street Mall, many of them carrying signs specifically calling for a Boulder County ban on fracking.

Stiffer county regulation of oil and gas drilling and production, one of those signs suggested, will only "regulate the amount of harm done to us."

Shane Davis speaks during an anti-fracking rally outside the Boulder County Courthouse on Tuesday. To view more photos and a video, visit www.TimesCall.com.
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Greg Lindstrom
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But Jeff Robbins, a Durango attorney working for Boulder County as a special counsel as it crafts new oil and gas rules, predicted at Tuesday night's meeting that any county ban on the use of the fracking process in drilling for oil and gas would be challenged in Colorado courts and likely would be overturned.

Kate Johnson, who said she lives on a small farm on the 11000 block of North 66th Street near Longmont, was one of those calling for an extension of the county's moratorium while more studies are conducted about the potential health and environmental impacts of fracking.

The oil and gas industry wants to begin drilling in Boulder County as soon as possible, Johnson told commissioners, "but don't let their hurry become your hurry."

Audy Leggere-Hickey, a Boulder resident, said that not only is more scientific study of fracking needed, "the political landscape is evolving locally, too."

Leggere-Hickey said the nearly 60 percent of Longmont voters who supported the anti-fracking Amendment 300 came "despite heavy spending by the opponents.

"That was in Longmont. How much higher would the result be in Boulder, Lafayette or Louisville?" Leggere-Hickey asked. "I think it's pretty safe to say that Boulder County citizens do not want hydraulic fracturing and its operations."

"Longmont has spoken," said Amanda Popich, a Lafayette resident. "It's time we ban fracking" or extend the county's drilling-applications moratorium.

Robert Russ of Louisville told commissioners: "I think you're hearing a common message here: Until we know what we're dealing with, we don't want to deal with it."

While most of those speaking at Tuesday night's hearing were critics of oil and gas drilling, Jamie Jost, identifying herself as a representative of two oil and gas companies, Encana and Noble, said those companies want to ensure the county's proposed recommendations are workable.

She noted that oil and gas companies already are subject to federal and state regulations and that Boulder County should avoid duplicating those requirements. She suggested, however, that the companies are willing to continue working with the county on its effort to develop local rules that would protect human health and the environment but that wouldn't conflict or duplicate the state and federal regulations and laws.

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